Marshall vs Miami (OH) College Football Preview

The Marshall Thundering Herd travels to take on the RedHawks of Miami (OH). Miami (OH) was unable to get a victory last year, and will be in for trouble against Marshall. Last year the thundering herd went 9-4 in the regular season that started against the redhawks, beating them 52-14. Marshall received a bowl bid and to the Military bowl, and won against Maryland 31-20. Marshall will return many of the same offensive playmakers as well as many defensive playmakers, and they will be full of confidence and be looking to get back into bowl contention this season.

Keys for Miami (OH) RedHawks:

Miami struggled on both sides of the ball last year and this year they will have to chose a new young quarterback. Either Drew Kummer or another young recruit will take the starting snaps come game one.

Luckily for the RedHawks their young running back will return, hopefully wiser. Austin Gearing had 145 carries for 478 yards and only one touchdown. He will have to do better.

Keys for the Marshall Thundering Herd:

Marshall will be trying to duplicate what they did last season and maybe even do better. The herd returns quarterback Rakeem Cato. Cato has an unbelievable 10,176 yards with the herd and fantastic ratio of 91 touchdowns and 31 interceptions. Cato has already proven himself and he will now be hoping to impress some scouts in the NFL.

With Cato at the helm running backs will probably get an extra step on the defense, so sophomore runners Steward Butler and Kevin Grooms will share the carries and try improve on their numbers. Butler scored eight touchdowns last season and Grooms was able to score six. With the best running back from last year gone, both of these players will surely get more opportunities.

-NO KEY INJURIES

Favorite/Odds: Marshall by 24 points

Marshall isn’t playing an FCS team, but this Miami(OH) team might as well be in the FCS, maybe there they would be able to win a game or two. But nonetheless Marshall will have to play them and prove that they are still capable of winning games like they did a year ago.